Article

Sir John Young, Baron Lisgar

Published Online January 14, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Sir John Young Lisgar, Baron, politician, colonial administrator, governor general of Canada and governor of PEI 1869-72 (b at Bombay, India 31 Aug 1807; d at Bailieborough, Ire 6 Oct 1876). John Young was educated at Eton and Corpus Christi, Oxford.

Lisgar, Sir John Young, Baron

Sir John Young Lisgar, Baron, politician, colonial administrator, governor general of Canada and governor of PEI 1869-72 (b at Bombay, India 31 Aug 1807; d at Bailieborough, Ire 6 Oct 1876). John Young was educated at Eton and Corpus Christi, Oxford. A Tory MP for County Cavan, he served as a lord of the Treasury 1844-46 and chief secretary for Ireland 1852-55. Young's colonial appointments before coming to Canada, the Ionian Is and New South Wales, both ended in controversy. During his term in Canada, Lisgar took an active part in diffusing Canadian-American tensions created by the RED RIVER REBELLION and the Fenian raids. A keen supporter of CONFEDERATION, he tried to mediate the conflict created over the transfer of RUPERT'S LAND and the entry of Manitoba into Confederation and encouraged BC to join. He also organized the Governor-General's Foot Guard. Although Lisgar was outspoken and independent, John A. MACDONALD considered him the ablest governor general he had known.